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SPEECH OF 


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SENOR DON MATIAS K0.\ :R(), 




1 MEXICAN MINISTER AT WASHINGTON. 

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CITY OF WASHINCiTON. 


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SPEECH OF 



SENOR DON MATIAS ROMERO, 

HEAD ON THE C'yrn ANNIVERSARY OF THE RIRTH OF flENEJtAL 

ULYSESS S. ORANT, CELEBRATED AT THE >f ETUOI'OLI- 

TAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHCItCH, AT THE 

CITY OF WASHIN(iT()N, ON THE T.in 

OF APRIL, 1SS7. 



Mr. Chairman. Ladies and Gentlemen : Wliile 
I liiglily appreciate tlie distinction tliat tlie promo- 
ters of this celebration have conferred upon nie in 
asking my assistance to honor the memory of one 
of the greatest men of the mi^c I)}' commenH)rating 
the sixty-fifth anniversary of his birtliday, I deeply 
regret that I am iH)t competent to do justice to the 
subject, especially because T have to express my 
views in a langunge which is not my own. T am 
also afraid that my estimate of Gen. Grant m.iy ))«• 
thought by some to be influenced by my personal 
regard and admiration for his character. 

It would take much longer time than 1 can com- 
mand sh(»uld I atteiu])! (o make even a very brief 
sketch of Gen. Grant's life, which is, on the oihei- 
hand, so fanuliar to you all, and more particulailv 
to the congregation of this chureii, uliich w.-is the 
place of divine worship of (ten. (ir.ani dining the 
eight years of his oflicial residence at this ca]>ital as 
President of ilie I'liiled States. 

It would be ])resiimi)tuous on my pail loallrmjif 



even to speak of him in connection with his foreign 
policy, the subject which has been specially assigned 
to me, and I will therefore confine my remarks to 
liis views about my own country, which I think I 
understood well, and some of my personal recollec- 
tions of him, which perhaps are not generally 
known, and may therefore be of some interest to 
you. 

I was during the fall of 1864 living in AVnshing. 
ton, representing Mexico, and watching with great 
concern and solicitude the events of the mighty war 
which was then being waged in this broad country, 
and which constituted one of the severest trials that 
republican institution ever encountered, longing as 
a republican for the success of the Union, among 
other reasons because I was convinced that the in- 
tervention which the French emperor had brought 
over to Mexico, would come sooner to an end if the 
Union was restored in the United States, wlien the 
political events of Mexico induced one of the most 
prominent of Mexican statesmen. Gen. Doblado, to 
come to this country, and expressed to me his wishes 
to visit tlie Union army, which was then besieging 
Richmond and Petersburg under the command of 
Gen. Grant. 

I most gladly availed myself of that opportunity 
to visit that army, and to make the personal ac- 
quaintance of its great leader. I had, of course, 
heard most of what had been said in favor of and 
against Gen. Grant by the newspapers, as I had re- 
sided almost uninterruptedly in Washington since 
December, 1850, long before (he beginning of the 
war which made him so famous, lie had then al- 
ready won his most signal victories, and facts as 
eloquent as the victories of Fort Donelson, Sliiloh, 
Vicksburg and Chattanooga were stubborn fads, 
whicli could not well be contradicted or doubted. 
Yet he was censured by some, and I had a great de- 



3 



rior to make the personal acquaintance of the war- 
sire who had attained such great victories, and wlio 
had resting upon him the great work of destroying 
slavery and saving republican institutions and free 
and popular government. I therefore made uj^ my 
mind to accompany Gen. Doblado, who needed my 
assistance as he could not s])eak English. 

I asked the necessary j^ermit from Mr. Seward, 
then Secretary of State, who graciously gave us let- 
ters of introduction to Generals Grant and Meade 
and to Admiral Porter, and, on the 22d day of Oc- 
tober, 1864, we left Washington for the James River, 
via Baltimore, and readied Gen. Grant's headquar- 
ters at City Point on the 24th. The General re- 
ceived us with great cordiality. He lodged us in a 
tent at his camp near his own, sent us to see the 
armies of tlie Potomac and of the James, under tlie 
respective commands of Generals Meade and Butler, 
and exx^ressed to us the greatest sympathy for our 
cause, and even a desire to serve our government in 
its struggle to defend tlie independence and auton- 
omy of Mexico, and thus preserve republican in- 
stitutions in tliis continent against foreign aggres- 
sions. 

I may remark liere, in a passing way, tlinl nil the 
officers of tlio Union army witli whom we came in 
contact, shared tlie opinion entertained then by llie 
people of tlie Northern States, that tlie attempt to 
set up a monarchy in Mexico with foreign bayonets 
was a step intended to co-oi)erate to the downfall of 
rcpiibliciin institutions on this continent, and was 
tiierefort- an act unfriendly to tlie Uniicd Sintcs 
which this country could not ignore. 

The extraordinaiy sinii)licily of (Jen. (Jmni im- 
pressed me very forcibly. lU- occnjijcd ;it th:it 
time at City Point a tent which 1 thought was no 
better than those of the priviite soldieis, :i?id Imd a 
luililaiy overcoat as plain as those worn l)\ ih,. 



common soldier. His demeanor evinced great sim- 
plicity, sincerity, and firmness of character, and he 
seemed to be greatly impressed with tlie responsi- 
bilities which rested upon him, although he had the 
firm belief that the war would end in favor of the 
cause he was defending. His wife and children 
accompanied him in liis camp, and the solicitude 
that Mrs. Grant evinced foi- her husbnnd was veiy 
remarkable. Subsequent acquaintance with tlint 
extraordinary Indy Ims nllowed me to ;i])]ue('inl(' 
all her worth, and I have the firm belief that (ien. 
Grant was indebted to his wife all through their 
wedded lives for a sound judgment, great attach- 
ment, and unselfish devotion. The willingness and 
promptitude with which Mrs. Grant j^nrted with all 
she had to assist her husband in i)aying his debt of 
$150,000 to Mr. William H. Vanderbilt, of New 
York, is a deed worthy of a Roman matron. 

The cordiality with which Gen. Grant received 
me, and the great sympathy he showed for my 
country during the few days I had the pleasure to 
spend at his camp, mnde a lasting impression upon 
me, and were the beginning of a sincere nnd disin- 
terested friendship, which was converted after his 
death into great admiration for his chaiacter. It 
would take much longer time than I could now 
spare, should I attempt to relate some of the many 
interesting incidents of our personal intercourse. 
I hope that it will be sufficient for my purpose to 
say now that our friendsliij) spiang up fiom the 
fact that our views on the relations which ought to 
exist between Mexico and the United States were 
in perfect accord, and that fact and our relative 
position in our respective countries gave us the op- 
portunity of making our friendship not subseivient 
to any selfish or personal njotive of either of us, but 



to what we understood to be the best interest of 
our respective countries. 

Gren. Grant went to Mexico, as you well know, as 
a second lieutenant of the army of invasion in 1846, 
first under Gen. Taylor by the frontier of Texas as 
far as Salrillo, and afterward under Gen. Scott by 
Vera Cruz up to the City of Mexico by way of 
Jnlapa and Puebla, having visited Toluca, Cuerna- 
vaca, and Ciiaulha Morelos. Of his views about 
that war he made no mystery and always held 
it as an unjust war brought about by the 
ruling class of a strong country against a distracted 
one, for the only purpose of increasing the area of 
slavery and to keep the control of the federal gov- 
ernment in the hands of the slave power. His 
views on that war, as expressed in his jiersonal 
memoirs, show that his strong sense of justice and 
rectitude could not be moved even by such great 
inducements as his personal interest as a nienilier 
of the invading aimy, and the interest of his own 
country. 

The remarkable powers of obseivation and the 
extraordinary good sense of Gen. Grant permitted 
him to understand Mexico after a stay of about two 
years in that country, as a member of the invading 
army, better than any born or tiained American 
statesman ever did. To my knowledge, and 1 feel 
perfectly sure tliat as time rolls away, and as each 
country becomes better acquainted with the otlie?-, 
the Afexican policy forecast by (tcii. (iiant will 
prevail in this country, niid iliat his views .-ilioHf 
the relations of the United Slates with Mexico will 
be adhered to, and regaided with as much i«sp«'ct 
as you hold now the farewell aiMress df Wash- 
ington 

({en. (Jrant had a sensitive li(>art, which made 
him uiiderslaiid and appieci.-ile the troubles and 
niisrori iiues of a high-spiriiid .■uid <li ivalious but 



6 

unfortunate peox-)]e, witli tlie resources and future 
for a magnificent country, and he always had the 
greatest sympathy and the kindest feelings for 
Mexico and the Mexicans. His later experienre jis 
a statesman and his foreign travels only seived lo 
confirm his early views about Mexico and his kind 
feelings towards the Mexicans. 

I was very greatly surprised in my first conver- 
sation with (jen. Grant to find him so well informed 
about the condition of Mexico, the social and poli 
cal status of its people and their needs, the causes 
which kept it backward, and the means to main- 
tain peace and order and to turn a distracted into 
a prosperous and happy people. 

After Gen. Grant returned from Mexico in 1848, 
he went with his regiment to California, and after- 
wards he resigned his commission in the army and 
entered into private pursuits ; then came the civil 
war in this country, and his patriotic heart could 
not allow him to remain indillerent to the fate of 
his country. He offered his services to the governor 
of Illinois, and his career became a most eventful 
one from 18(51 to 1864. He had, besides, when 1 
saw him in October of that year, the greatest care 
and responsibility hanging upon him, and yet with 
all that, Mexico was tlie favored topic of his con- 
versations with me, and his reminiscences of Mex- 
ico were as fresh and clear as if he had just letunied 
from my counti-y, and his views as thorough and 
correct as if he was a Mexican statesman. This 
fact shows conclusively, in my opinion, the great 
comprehensive power of his extraordinary mind, 
and that he really possessed the highest iiilis of a 
statesman. 

When the war was over. Gen. (^i-ant e.stabli.shed 
his headquarters in Washington as general in com- 
mand of tlie United States army, and T then had fr« - 
(Hjeni ()p}'(»rnniilies lo ««•.• liim, and talk wiih him 



about the condition of Mexico, which, at that time, 
was very critical. 

Public opinion was divided in this country as to 
the best course to be followed with a view to hasten 
the end of the French intervention in Mexico. 
While everybody thought that the intervention was 
intended on the part of the French emperor as a 
blow against republican institutions in the world, 
with a hope of subverting them, and that also he 
intended to thus assist the Confederate States in 
breaking up the Union, some, like Gen. Grant, 
tliouglit that the United States ought to have re- 
sented this intervention as soon as the civil war was 
over, and to have sent an immediate notification to 
the French emperor that unless he should withdraw 
his troops from Mexico at once, the United States 
would assist the Mexican government in expelling 
them fronj the countiy, while others, like Mi. 
Seward, at the time Secretary of State, thought that 
the best way to accomplish the same end was to 
make that demand ui)on the French government in 
such a manner as not to wound the susceptibilities 
of the proud French people, which fact might per- 
haps delay instead of hasten the evacuation of 
Mexico by the French army. 

As a straightforward man, and one who did not 
fancy any I'oundabout way of acr()in])lisliing an ob- 
ject, Gen. Grant felt very anxious on ihis .subject, 
and did all he could, wiili tlic powerful inlliience 
and imi)()rtaHt i)osiiion lit> held at the time, to carrj' 
out his views, sometimes sending to the frontier a 
large number of troops under Gen. SJKMidan, with 
out instructions fiom the I*resident, as a demon- 
stration to the Fi'cnch emperor, and at other times 
urging the President of the United States to adopt 
a more decisive policy tlian tlie one pursued by th<> 
Secretary of State. Enjoying the confidence of 
['resident Johnson, howev(M-, Mr. Seward succeeded 



in having his policy adopted by the administration ; 
and the Frencli intervention in Mexico finally canie 
to an end, although not so soon as Gen. Grant de- 
sired, bnt sooner than it would have come if the 
United States had not lent us at the time their good 
offices. Perhaps it was the best thing that could 
happen for Mexico and the United States that tlie 
evacuation of Mexico by the French should have 
taken place without bringing about any act of hos- 
tility between this country and France. As it was, 
I consider it as the greatest blow that the emperor 
of France had received up to that time ; and I think 
that I could show plainly that the original cause of 
his downfall was the mistake he made in trying to 
set up an empire in Mexico, and the way in which 
he had to retrace his steps and to abandon to his 
fate the scion of an imperial house who had trusted 
him. Very few could imagine at the time that the 
attempt of the French ruler to subvert the consti- 
tution of an American republic should bring about 
the result before the end of many years, of making 
him lose his throne, and restoring reput)lican insti- 
tutions in France. 

The interest that Gen. Grant felt in Mexico, and 
his desire to put as soon as possible an end to the 
French intervention, was so great that he often ex 
pressed tome his wish to goat the head of an army 
of the United States to assist the Mexican govern- 
ment in driving out the invaders, and this was es- 
pecially remarkable because, as everybody knows, 
though he was a great warrior, and very likely the 
greatest of this century, he utterly disliked wai'. 

After Gen. Grant had taken his tour around the 
world, which gave him an opportunity that very 
few men, if any, ever had before, of visiting every 
important country upon the face of the earth, and 
to understand, with his wonderful powers of obser- 
vation, their condition, needs and probable future^ 



and having personal intercourse with the most dis- 
tinguislied statesmen, leading men and rulers in each 
country, whether in Europe, Asia or America, he 
naturally had his views, as a statesman, about the 
])osition, policy, and future of his own country, 
very much enlarged, for I hold that there is nothing 
which expands so much one's mind and allows him 
to obtain clearer knowledge of this kind than in- 
telligent traveling in foreign countries. It was then 
that he matured his views about the condition of 
China and Japan, and the policy that the United 
States ought to follow toward these eastern empires, 
a policy which I think will have to be in the future 
adhered to by this country as a legacy left to her 
by one of her greatest men. 

He thought then that his work could not be at an 
end if he did not visit Mexico again. To be sure, 
he knew Mexico perfectly well and did not need a 
second visit to know all about it, but his love for 
my country was so great that he thought he ought 
not to fail to see it once more. Early in 1880. he 
went there again, accompanied by Mrs. Grant and 
his eldest son, and had the opportunity of seeing 
the changes wiiich had been acconiplislied to the 
credit of Mexico, notwithstanding all her misfor- 
tunes brought about by civil and foreign wai-s, in 
the nearly quarter of a century whicli had elapsed 
since iiis first visit. It was then tliat lie matured 
ills views about the best way for Mexico to develop 
her own resources and to become a great nation, as 
well as to the policy tliat the United Status ought 
to pursue toward Mexico, lie saw at once, with liis 
great foresight, that the material resources of Mex 
ico could not be developed in large scale except by 
the construction of railroads, which would really 
be extensions of the railway- system of the United 
States into a country capabk^ of i)roducing in hirge 
quantities all ihf tio]»ical fruits neecU'd in i]i«> 



10 



United States and of consuming from this country 
a proportionate amount of American manufactures. 
While Gen. Grant was in Mexico he had conver- 
sations with the leading men of the country on tliis 
subject, which led to a request on their part for him 
to submit the condition of things to capitalists in 
the United States, with a view that they might make 
investments in the building of railroads in Mexico. 
On his return to this country he spoke earnestly on 
the subject, and the expression of his views con- 
tributed largely to the organization of several com- 
panies in the United States for the purpose of build- 
ing important lines of railroad in Mexico, although 
he had no personal interest of any kind in them. 
I refer especiully to the Mexican Central and the 
Mexican National railways, running respectively 
from El Paso and from Laredo, Texas, to the City 
of Mexico. When the building of this line seemed 
to be an assured fact, he thought that American en- 
terprise ought not to stop at the City of Mexico, 
but go on toward Central America, as in that direc- 
tion lies one of the richest portions of Mexico, and 
he understood clearly the fact, which is not yet ad- 
mitted generally, but which I have no doubt will be 
recognized before long, that the "iron belt" will 
before very long encircle the whole Americjin con- 
tinent. With this object in view, he organized in 
New York a company for the purpose of building 
a railroad from the City of Mexico toward the 
frontier of Mexico and Guatemala, with branches 
to the Gnlf of Mexico and to the PaciHc, and lie 
went himself to Mexico for the purpose of making 
the necessary arrangements with the Mexican gov- 
ernment. This road was not bnilt becansea panics 
took place about thai tini(^ in this country which 
njade capital timid : bnt 1 have no doubt it will be 
one of th»> lirst trnidv lin^s hnilt in Mexico. The 
connection of Gen. Grant with (he Mexican South 



11 

ern road gave his detractors an opportunity to cen- 
sure him, though he was trying to carry out a law- 
ful enterprise, which would have been a good in- 
vestment for cnpitalists, and a great advantage to 
Mexico. Knowing of the transaction which took 
place at the time, as I was in New York when Gen. 
Grant organized the company, and I accompanied 
him to Mexico, I am perfectly satisfied that while 
he desired, of course, to i)rotect the capital invested 
in that road and ro make it a profitable investment, 
his living motive in that enterprise was by no means 
selfish, but a national one, solar as his own country 
was concerned, and a benevolent one, so far as Mex- 
ico was concerned. I myself have been criticised 
in connection with that scheme with Gen. Grant, 
and with the purpose of explaining the General's 
views on this subject rather than defend myself, I 
beg to be allowed to say that no thought ever 
crossed my mind that was not honorable and just 
to Gen. Grant. Had I any desire to avail myself 
of his kindness and good will toward me, I would 
have tried to do so while he was the respected and 
powerful head of this government ; but during the 
eight years he filled the ofiice of President of the 
United States I never was in this country, and 1 
neither think nor remember of having wi-jiten him 
a single letter. 

My own connection, besides, with this road was 
a very clean one. The federal government of Mex- 
ico had given a grant to tlie governor of the state of 
Oaxaca in 1880, for the pnrpose of building a road 
from the City of Mexico to the capital of that state, 
with bjanches to the Gulf of Mexico and the I'aci- 
lic, allowing as^b^^i<|y of ab()nts(;ven thousand dol- 
lars per kilometer. The governor of the state of 
Oaxaca gave me full i)ower to fiansfer tliis irrant to 
any ccmipany that I thought wrislikely tobnihl th,. 
road, and I did transfer ii lo liie conq.any or-an- 



12 



ized in New York by Gen. Grant, without charging 
one cent commission for the disposal of the valu- 
able property. I, besides, held no lands or any 
other values which might be enhanced by the build- 
ing of this road. Nobody was ruined in this coun- 
try, so far as I know, by that operation. The 
amount of money spent was by no means a large 
one, and the greater x^ortion of it was used in buy- 
ing a large tract on the Gulf of Mexico, wliere lies 
wiiat is supposed to be the only good liaibor on the 
Mexican coast of that gulf. 

The two visits whicli Gen. Grant niade to Mexico 
in 1880 and 1881 developed and confirmed his views 
about the future of my country and the political 
and commercial relations that the United States 
ought to establish with Mexico. 

It was about that time that Congress authoiized 
the President of the United States to send a com- 
mission to Mexico foi' the purpose of negotiating a 
commercial treaty; and Gen. Grant being the man 
for tlie place, was at once selected for that position 
bj' President Arthuj-. and his Secret aiy of State. 
Mr. Prelinghuysen. Having myself been authoi- 
ized by the Mexican government to meet Gen. Grant 
for such purpose, I had the honor, as well iis the 
pleasure, to be associated with him in a work which 
I believe has a national chiiracter ; and it was a 
model of fairness, because it did not give either 
country an undue advantage over tlie other; its 
intent being to develop a huge trade between the 
two nations for the niuiiial advantage of both. This 
treaty evoked the opposition of several parties, 
some of whom went so far as to assert that in sign- 
ing it we had a personal purpose to subserve, which 
was one of the most unfounded as well as unjust 
assertions ever made. The moment Gen. Grant 
heard of sucli accusations, lie addressed a letter to 
a newspaper of this city, which had given currenc}- 



13 



to such rumor, denying it in the most emphatic 
terms, and saying what was a fact, that he never 
had business connection of any character wliatso- 
ever with me. 

As I remarked before, I liave no doubt tliat, not- 
withstanding the opposition wliicli tliis treaty en- 
countered, the views and principles embraced in it 
will be hereafter accepted by this countiy as the 
soundest that can control its lelations witli Mexico. 
The least thing that could be said about this is that 
Gen. Grant was, on this subject, several years in 
advance of his generation. / 

Nothing better illustrates the character of Gen. 
Grant, and his respect for justice and peace, than 
his management of the difficulties with England 
after the civil war was ended here, and duiing the 
early years of his first presidential term. The 
United States felt very much aggrieved with Eng- 
land after the civil war for assistance which they 
thought she had rendered to their enemies during 
that war, and a war with England would cei tainly 
have been a i)opular measure at tliat time, of wliich 
a detuagogue might have availed himself for objects 
of personal aggrandizement. A waiiioi' lihe Gen. 
Grant might have been inlliienced in that legaid by 
the wish of carrying out a gigantic war between 
two of the most powerful nations on I he earth, and 
the hope of achieving similar victories to those 
which he had already won; but, like a great states- 
man and a true patriot, he preferred to the doubt- 
ful and terrible destinies of war, the honorable 
and peaceable means of arbitration, and, for the 
first tinie in the history of the world, I believe, a 
great general, probably the leading soldiei' of his 
age, agreed to end by peaceful means the dillerence 
with a rival country, giving up, therefore, all idea 
of personal fame through another war. 

Not to detain you any longer, 1 will ?iow mtne to 



14 



the last moments of Greii. Grant on his dying bed. 
I went as often as I could to see him, to New York 
and to Mount McGregor during the last months of 
his life, and was glad to remain by his bedside two 
or three days at a time, and I did so especially 
whenever I learned that his terrible sickness was 
coming to a crisis. On the 4th of July, 1885, I ar- 
rived at Mount McGregor and found that the Gen- 
eral could not talk any longer, but said in writing 
what he wished, and in this way vve were permitted 
to keep his last thoughts. I took hisj^id and wrote 
this question: "They tell me, general, that you 
have not pain any longer." He answered on the 
same pad and below my question as follows : 
" Tiiere were a few days when I had but litde pain 
and had but little cocaine. Now ] have lo use it, 
at times, as often as once a half hour to allay acule 
pain in my mouth. It does not allect it ^^hatever ; 
only lessens it." He added : You may talk to me. ' 
In the course of my conversation he wrote on his 
pad about his terrible sufferings as follows: "I 
have been a very great sufferer since I saw you last. 
Generally I get verj' good rest from 11 at night un- 
til about noon next dny, but not always. Thursday 
night I neither slept nor was free fiom pain at jinj^ 
time. Satiirdny was much the snme. Last night 
I slept and rested well froni about 12 to 7 this 
morning. I see now a bad day before me." 

In a letter which he had written to me from New 
York, on the 16th of Febriuiry, 1885, he spoke about 
his sufferings and his sickness, as follows : 

"I have been a great suH'eicM' since we nx't hist, 
and continue to be yet, though I feel now that I am 
at last- improving. Vou ma\' renuMuber that when 
you were at Long Brancli last summer, I was com- 
plaining of a sore throat. I thought nothing of it 
at liie time, and did not consult a i)hysician about 
it until about a luoiitli after my return to tliecity 



15 



It had then run without care, some four months. 
When the doctor was seen he decided that my sore 
throat resulted from my stomach being nicotinized. 
I have given up smoking entirely for the last three 
montlis, and feel that I am now about free of nico- 
tine, tliough not of its effect." 

As his grandcliild Ulysses S. Grant, a son of Col. 
Grant, about 5 years old, came that morning of the 
4th of July, 1885, to bid him good morning, he 
wrote: "Happy boy, he does not seem to realize 
my condition. Tlie little girl does, however," mean- 
ing his sister, Julia Grant, who was at the time 
about ten years old. 

His good will toward Mexico was so great that, 
notwithstanding his intense suffering, and without 
my mentioning anything to liini about it, lie wrote 
to me as follows : " I have been intending to write 
President Diaz a long personal letter, embracing 
political matters relating to the two countries. 
There is a stagnation in business in this country 
which affects Europe as well as Mexico. Nothing 
is so abundant here as money ; nothing is so cheap 
or so hard to get except by those who do not want 
it. Confidence will be restored here, I trust, before 
many months. If it is, it will be followed up abroad 
as well as at home." 

Only four days after that, on the 8th of July, 
1885, some Mexican journalists who had come to 
visit this country, visited him at Mount McGregor, 
and he wrote to them the following expression of 
his views and sympathy toward Mexico. 

" My great interest in Mexico has dated back to 
the war between the United Statesand that counlrv. 
My interest was increased when four European 
monarchies attempted to set up their institutions 
on this continent, selecting Mexico, a territorj- ad- 
joining us. It was an ouliage on human rights for 
a rt)reigii nation to attemi)t to transfer Ikm' inslitu- 



10 



tioiis and her ruler.s to llie territory of a civilized 
people without flieir consent. They were fearfully 
punished for their crime. 

"I hope M(»xico may now begin an upward and 
prosperous departure. She has the elements of 
success. She has the people, she has the soil, she ^ 
has the climate, and she has the minerals. The 
conquest of Mexico will not be an easy task in the 
future." 

This great man, so liberally endowed by nature, 
with the gifts of a strong mind, a sensitive heart, a 
most remarkable good sense and a pure character, 
can be certainly taken as a model for the future gen- 
erations of this country, and his great services to 
his country will make his birthday in future ages 
as sacred for his fellow citizens as Washington's 
birthday is at i)reseiit. 



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